I awakened this morning to hear in my Spirit, "Don't buy into it". It was clear that the subject at hand was Fear... It was that the enemy of our Souls wants us intimate with Fear. He has attempted to hijack the idea of intimacy and worship towards our God. Satan has set up people - the fearful and unbelieving, those who are spiritually wicked who lead from high places in government, business, and education, and even pastors and churches - to determine it inappropriate to intimately worship in a corporate setting. In the meantime, he is strategically setting up fear to replace faith - and we know that faith works by love.
So, instead of intimately communicating our love in the presence of others toward our God, we cower in fear and are lead away with vain imaginations, daily, that capture our hearts and our Souls. We must, instead, fight the good fight of faith. We must position ourselves in intimate worship, whether we do so privately or corporately. We must give ourselves over to faith birthed by love. We know that perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18. Fear torments and restricts us. When we walk in perfected love, fear is cast out. Fear is designed to torment us and to cause our minds to be fractured with all kinds of issues that move through it, causing us to not be at peace. But God wants us to be at peace. He wants us to live in peace, the type of peace that passes our understanding. What does Philippians 4:7 say, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." He wants us to keep our hearts and our minds stayed on Christ Jesus. Satan wants our hearts and minds to be locked into fear constantly.
So, realize that when you worship, you enter into a place where your heart and mind is on God - his character, and his goodness. There, in that place, we are captured by God's love, and fear is gone.
That is why it is imperative that Pastors and Worship Leaders reposition themselves to stand on the word of truth, and then to reposition the Body of Christ in wholesome, heartfelt, and intimate worship.
There are stories in the word of God that clearly show us how that people publicly worshiped and praised the Lord Jesus. Mary washed Jesus feet with her hair. She poured, in worship, her most valuable perfume on his feet. John 12:3-8 (NLT) tells us -
"Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself. Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."
Why is it that Mary could so freely give her best - most treasured valuable to the Lord? Mary was a woman from whom 7 devils were cast out. (Mark 16:9). But now, there was another person - a man -from whom many devils were cast out, that worshiped Jesus even before Jesus had delivered him. The Bible says in Mark 5:3-5 about this man "3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." Imagine his life. No one could stand to be in his presence because of his violent nature. He could only be in the place where no one wanted ever to be - in the mountains and the tombs. He had to spend his time alone spitting, cursing, cutting himself and crying, knowing that his life was filled with darkness, yet, lonely, destructive and crazed. But when he saw Jesus - Mark 5:1b, 2, 6 who had "...come into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit... 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him." He saw Jesus from a far distance and ran and worshiped Him. Now the devils in him spoke out of the man because they recognized the anointing in the Anointed One. The Man ran to Jesus because he had a Great Need - a need for deliverance. The devils were not pleased about it because they knew their plight. Ummmm. What if in the midst of your worship devils knew their plight? (Selah)
Mary knew what Jesus had done for her. She knew the immediate deliverance that she had experienced. It was her greatest joy to openly display her adoration to Jesus for the work he had done in her life. But listen to what Jesus said in John 12:7 (NLT) He said, "Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial". My God! Here's a vessel who recognized that a greater work was to come in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and she determined to worship him even in death - not fully comprehending what was to come in terms of what his resurrection could even look like. Mark15:47 tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary,Jesus' mother, "beheld where he was laid." She had already prepared to lavish her worship on him - even the more for dying on the cross - to carry the weight of all the sin of mankind in himself - and to conquer death & the grave for the whole world. In great anticipation of this complete and finished work, she worshiped Jesus - - pouring this precious ointment on his feet, wiping it with her hair. Whose dusty, smelly feet would you wipe your hair with? Mary couldn't even wait until the burial, she opened her precious ointment now.
Remember when I shared that Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus looked at the location where he was buried? Well (Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-11) just as planned, the 2 Marys, Joanna, and other women having bought sweet spices, came to the Sepulcher to anoint Jesus. But what they did not understand was that in their acts of worship there would be a greater purpose. They did not understand that their intimate acts of adoration would position them to be the first to declare that Jesus' work was complete... that he had conquered sin and the grave... and that he had completed the work for which he had come to earth to achieve. Mark 16:6-11
Understand that your worship - intentional, out loud, intimate and sweet, is pricy from your standpoint, and yet costly on His. Everyone may not appreciate your worship. They do not understand how you can lavish your words, how you can position and posture your body in acts of adoration and praise to the Lord Jesus. "It don't take all that!" they say. And dry as a rock they stand, judging your tears, your shouts and your dance. Well, were they there, the night He found you? Did they feel what you felt, when he wrapped His loving arms around you? No. and even if they were, they STILL don't know the cost of the oil in your Alabaster Box!!! So, don't buy into it. Go ahead in - - all the way in - - to worship... to Adore Him! Lavish Him with words of love - intimate words that come from your own heart and mouth. Spare none. Share all. Be intimate out in the open... with Jesus. He intimately and openly bore all the sins of the world for you and me. No fear in my worship. Let there be no fear in yours.
I apologize to you. I began writing this piece in 2021/22 during COVID. I wrote during those months when the government wanted you at home, fearful, not opening your mouth, and not standing in Faith. They drove fear, doubt, death and their failed solutions into our hearts and minds. It has taken many of you months - - and even years to begin opening your mouth in the sanctuary and at home to worship adubly (out loud) to the Lord. Gripped by fear, you mumbled through songs and barely spoke to God telling him anything about himself. Many now struggle with mental health issues because they were consumed with fear, pain and loss. Well, it's time, my friend. It's time to release the fear, loss and pain. Lay it all down at the feet of Jesus. Be like Mary Magdalene and create an audience of 1 in the midst of your congregation. Your worship will draw others in, to worship Him too.
Pastors, Leaders, Principals, Parents, Officers, Teens, Children, Teachers - hold back for No One!!! Jump All the Way In. Be like the women who were the first to tell about the finished work of Jesus. "Tell all these things" in times of adoration to Jesus. Don't ever allow your worship to be hijacked by fear - ever again. That demon possessed man ran a long way to get to Jesus - even while others looked on -- knowing who he was, fearing his very presence - - and perhaps even resenting his being in their midst. But he was desperate. He knew he needed Jesus. He fell down and worshiped him - demons speaking out and all -- he ran to the King of kings, the Mighty Deliverer. And you know, sometimes while running you don't even know what the results will be. But run in, anyhow. Press in, anyway. Are you in sin? - - Lay before Jesus in worship. You on Fentanyl? - - Bow before Jesus and Worship Him until you have no words left - - and even then - - moan and groan - - because Holy Spirit will understand your every unspoken word. Romans 8:26 (ESV) "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." We need to worship before the thing we desire is ever accomplished. Fear Not! Go ahead now... Worship Him! (Click on the link above and worship with David and Nicole Binion.)
Here's my very first experience of an Artist singing Alabaster Box: Nicole Binion -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-GvJgNbKRk Songwriters: Janice Sjostrand
The Story of the writing of Alabaster Box as shared by Dr. Janice Sjostrand, on The Hacka Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvQMAdeO11w
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